10:45 PM now, day started a 6:00 am drove 300 miles round trip to purchase baler belts, installed same, baled 16 tons of hay before to dark to see, drove 80 miles round trip to hospital to check on father, had first meal since 6:30am at 9:45pm. Not a bad day for a 55 year old tomorrow C4-5-6 Quad. Now I'm going to bed 8-)

I know what you mean Bassman.....But here its 10:00am and I'm playing hooky. I'm "bereaving"....My boat broke and I am sad. I bet they wont get it fixed for several weeks. I have the same feeling when my boats broke as I do when I forget to wear underwear...Somethings just not quite right. :(your friend,john

Keep your eyes peeled Bassman!The way the economy is going,(and cost of gas) you will probably see some pretty good deals on boats! Nice boats too!....People are just trying to get out from under the payments nowaday! Even for me, I used to go fishing at least 5 times a week! Not anymore though...twice on weekends and maybe once in the week are about all I can afford, and thats including paul and Kanna and my dad chipping in on gas money. Every cent i make on my fishing lures goes right into the boat or truck for gas!Just remember to look for that "GREAT DEAL" to compensate for the fuel cost :)

I used to have a canoe and really enjoyed it. I would go down the Wichita river(more like a creek compared to where you live) and would have a grand time! It was a different world on the river! I always imagined that I was seeing it the same way as the Wichita Indians used to see it when they were hunting or gathering or washing laundry and stuff! I told my son just this last saturday that he should get a kayak to use on the wichita river. Him and his buddy Austin took a couple rubber rafts(the 20$ ones..heh heh heh....)down the river Saturday!...I was more thrilled than he was I think!!..For him to get outside and do something??...It was a miracle!!..............ok, maybe not a miracle, as I did hear the boys talking about a couple of girls going :)....Unfortunately, the girls didnt like the idea....But, I bet, If the boys had kayaks, the girls may have reconsidered!ok,...thats about all.

We just got a 28 ft pontoon boat last year. Really enjoyed it last summer until the lakes got down. We have had canoes for almost thirty years (showing my age) we still have the first two we bought. They are still going strong, even after having to be patched. Picked up two kayaks for the boys from yard sales. and the first time out my mom, age 60, had to get in to try it out. The boys had to fight her to get it back. But then the rivers we go on have no greater than class 2 or maybe a couple class 3's. We ended up with a canoe trailer that will hold 8 canoes, because all our friends would want to go and they would buy a canoe and not have a way to haul them. We have had up to 30 people on the river with the eight canoes and two kayaks.

We kayak on the Susquehanna. I don't know if you can even give it any classifications. My wife doesn't have the ability to do whitewater so we just do flat stuff, which is fine for both of us. We're not thrill seekers so it suits us both. My mom likes to go out too but hasn't in a while. My dad will be joining us for the first time this year for a charity ride we are participating in. That is going to be a pretty big thing for him. He recently learned how to swim (he's 57). He was concerned with the water depth. I told him last year I could have walked across the river and it wouldn't have gone past my hips. This year, with all the rain, I'm sure it will be a little more swift and deep but he'll be fine I think. Nothing will happen to him on my watch.

HAB- hope dad is doing much better? After a day like that when do you work the bees?

Yeah, was a rough day. Dad is coming home today so that will make it a little easier. My wife does most of the work with the Bees. I'm a Quad C4-5-6 level (neck injury 1981) so the "Hands On" work here on the farm is done by her, my son, or father. I drive (E-350 Ford Diesel Van, F-350 Ford Truck, two utility tractors, John Deer 450-C Bulldozer, and a couple of other things) so I do the "fetching" and "hauling" and the "Brain Work" as my wife calls it. Still, by the end of a 16 hour day I'm pretty exhausted. :)

Glad to hear dad is coming home. I know about the Quads, my brother-in-law was a quad. he fell 13 ft from his roof and had a C7 injury. Keeping busy always helps, unfortuately my b-in-law never tried to keep busy. he just gave up.

That sounds fun!! I don't like the water, no how no way, well, a big boat or cruise ship or fishing boat is ok :roll: but it would be fun to be with all your friends for the day seeing the beauty of the outside from a DRY position, having lunch or dinner, talking & laughing maybe seeing something new or rare, stopping & hiking around looking a/stuff when you want. It is always fun to do things with friends! Jody

Hey Love, I used to have a 24 foot pontoon boat! Dad and i went in halves(we used to always split boat costs up until the last 2 boats) figuring the rest of the family(my sis and her kids, and my mom) would come out with us and enjoy it. I think they all came out maybe 2 times at the most. After that I always got boats that suited fishing. Bassman, thats sure a coincidence about your dad learning to swim at 57! My mom learned at about the same age! Once she learned, she went to the pool every day at the Y for years! Shes 78 now!..So is my dad! Moms still walking and running! As a matter of fact she just did a "Walk for Life" walk this past weekend!( about 5 miles!) Every year she does this and usually outwalks EVERYBODY!!! Up until this year she always collected more pledges and donations than anybody else. This year one of the local churches got up a team of walkers to beat out my moms work...That sucked,...Teaming up against an old lady like that :-x..........dad still fishes with me most every time I ask him. Mom caught him smokin' a few months ago, but he still takes every opportunity to come over here( and doesnt smoke). Poka bee,....I used to be content to just be in a boat years ago....Dad never got one until I made the move. I think, other than my rubber rafts and canoe, I was only in a boat once before 1985! I was THRILLED to just look over the side and behind the boat and watch the water spray out to the sides! It was MAGIC!!! Unfortunately, as the years of boat fishing went by, All I focus on now is to see where the spot is with all the fish hiding below.Well, there is an exception though( as giggling starts up...... :evil: Sometimes, when the wind picks up...heh heh......While under way, the boat will bounce!!!...and bounce and bounce and bounce!!!..and BOUNCE!!!!...It'll be SMASHING into the water!!!....And with the bigger waves, you also have WIND!!!...Wind and waves!!! And the water BLASTS into the boat!!! I remember one time(And this is The Truth!!!) That water was coming in so fast that there were fish swimming around our feet in 6 inches of water on the floor of the boat!!!!..The bilge pumps were blowing water out but not as fast as it poured in!! It was like our own private monsoon!!!This makes me laff!! But another thing that makes me laugh(hysterically) is looking at the people in the boat with me!!!..You see, I have the steering wheel to hold on to......They just kind of sit there...and bounce! up and down, up and down!.. Dad usually doesnt think about holding onto the hand rail( both front seats have a hand rail over the windshields), so he bounces too!!.. Feet and butts are off the floor at times!!..But, What really kills me is when I look behind me and see whoever is in the back seats bouncing around witth lakewater pouring down their bodies!!! Kanna, with her almost black hair, hanging straight down in her face. soaking wet.....Paul, leaning forward to try to hold onto the back of my seat with one hand for dear life, with water pouring down his face, and his right side soaked and sagging and his other hand trying to keep water off his glasses(As if he could see through the water hitting him in the face!)..And then I begin to laugh....I laugh so hard I start to hyperventilate!!!..Then I laugh so hard because i think I'm gonna have a heart attack from laughing!!! Then I start to scream!!! Like a rat whats been stepped on!! Tears start pouring out of my eyes but nobody can tell because i'm pretty much soaked too!! And I wont let off the throttle because by this time I've lost all motor skills and dont dare let go of the throttle!!...Now, by this time EVERYBODY in the boat is laughing hysterically with me!!...BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE!!!!LAFF LAFF LAFF!!! Ive peed in my pants now from laughing!!!..So has Kanna!!!!....Snots running out my nose, but who cares!!! THIS IS LIFE at its fullest!!! Dads laughing now! usually, when he finds something funny, his shoulders just pop up and down a few times, but NOT NOW! His mouth is WIDE OPEN and his eyes are slanted trying to keep water out! Finally, we'll get out of the wind somewhere.....We'll check for lost poles, loose fishing lures....shoes.... We all check to see if any of us have broken any teeth or bit our tongues.Then we fish.......we snicker and giggle and still laugh out every few moments. Friends of mine will come by and tell us that we've been heard from all over the lake! Then we just sit,... catch fish,...and mentally prepare to cross back the same way we just came from and get another taste of "Insanity"!Hmmm,...No wonder my boats not working right!

:)Johnny, Who says a poontoon cannot be out fitted for fishing. Ours came with no seats. one bench that was moveable. we put a fishing seat on the front and added folding camp chairs for visitors. With the oldest boy gone there is just the three of us and it makes a really nice fishing platform. We also have a trooling motor to make it easier to get into the shallows. Fishing poles and licenses are a must. Maybe this year the fish will bite.

When we had our pontoon boat we would fish for crappie sometimes at the oil derricks or underwater trees....We'd use minnows for bait back then. Well, when crappie are biting good and youre using monnows you have to keep getting the monnow bucket out of the water then put it back in....This takes time....time is FISH :) Anyways, I used to have a dalmation, Annie. She went EVERYWHERE with me!..To work, to beer joints, to wherever I could get her...And she ALWAYS went fishing with me! Since she was 5 weeks old she went fishing until the week she got put to sleep. Ok,....our pontoon boat had a sink right in front of the drivers seat..We used this to put our minnows in, for the convenience! After awhile, Annie discovered minnows! We would be fishing and then we would hear a gurgling sound...... Lo and behold, it would be Annie, with her face buried in the sink with water up to her ears!!...She'd be diving for the minnows so she could munch on them!. It got to where we really had to watch her because if we left her to it she would eat every minnow in there one by one!Yeh, pontoon boats are pretty cool...We used to cook on a barbecue grill on ours when the fish werent biting so good. The only thing I didnt like about ours was when we'd trailor it....They dont like going on the trailor in a cross wind unless theres a dock for the boat to lean against!( But THATS another story for later!)your friend,john

:lol:That was funny. We had a fiest, Fred, and still have a rat terrier, Sidney. Fred always like to ride the front of any boat, motorcycle, etc. He always went riding with us on our Goldwing. In the canoes, he always had to be in front, and when we hit rocks he would fall over board. Unforunately, last year he also like the front of the poontoon, and when we came into a no wake zone slowing the boat down, he lost his balance and went over board for the last time. We had to put him to sleep. Sidney loves it when we catch fish. He always trys to eat them and then cries when we throw them back in.Our poontoon is also trailered. and we like it because we have five lakes within about 10 to 40 minutes from our house. So we can go to any that we want.